Untitled

Using the grid as a subject of order, Velazquez creates a totemic structure that is a physical and psychological boundary between the space within and beyond the grid. With references from Minimalist sculpture, Arte Povera, and contemporary modular design, this sleek tower is a network of grids and lines — cedar 2 x 4s and retooled steel pallet — that displays 16 five gallon prefabricated plastic carboys. The carboys occupy the top lattice of the grid like a science experiment in the landscape.

A closer examination reveals that inside each jug is water that has been borrowed from the nearby east river. There is a physiological disconnect between the contents that are hovering in perfect alignment in the air and the water that is only a few feet away from the sculpture (and the viewer) in the East River. The water in the sculpture feels severely unnatural, and completely in opposition to the flowing river that it came from. At the end of the exhibition the water will either be returned to its source or taken further away, perhaps into a gallery or the artist’s studio both equally appropriate conclusions for this sculpture.